Cut price bikes to welcome tourists

The council-controlled organisation will have two bases to hire bikes from on the waterfront. Photo / APN

Auckland Transport is having a brief fling in the bike hire business, offering a cut-price deal for Rugby World Cup tourists and their hosts.

The council-controlled organisation will run the scheme from two bases on the waterfront from September 1 until October 31, providing 100 mountain bikes for $5 a half-day or $10 a day.

That is well below hire rates for road bikes in the Auckland region, which range from about $15 to $45 for half a day and $20 to $55 for a full day.

The scheme, to be operated by New Zealand Camp Site subsidiary Adventure Capital with a contribution of $100,000 from Auckland Transport, will also offer 10 free rides each day during the cup season from bike stations near Britomart and at the Eastern Viaduct.

Helmets will be included and visitors will be given advice about staying safe while riding around Auckland's challenging streets.

Users will also receive a cycle map of central Auckland and the attractions they can visit. The bikes will be for fair weather use as they will not have mudguards.

But Auckland Transport has yet to decide how to fill a gap left by the withdrawal from the streets nine months ago of the Next Bike hire scheme, which gave up to 30 minutes of free riding between a variety of locations.

Next Bike director Julian Hulls said his 170 bikes, with their remotely controlled unlocking devices, remained in storage, and the transport organisation had yet to conduct a feasibility study requested by the Auckland Council and the Waitemata Local Board.

He said his company - which hired bikes for $4 an hour after the first 30 minutes, up to a maximum of $16 a day - missed out on a tender for the World Cup tourism scheme on cost grounds even though he believed his machines would have won on quality criteria.

Auckland Transport spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said the tender process was based on which operator could provide the best value for money.